Almumni Get a Mentor to Find a Job

A July 1 2008 article in the Wall Street Journal by Joann Lublin talks about how in today’s tough job market applicants can get ahead by going back to their alumni’s outplacement department to get a coach.

"Not-so-recent college graduates are demanding more career assistance from their former schools as they face tougher employment markets,” the article states, which gives merit to the premise behind why the Entertainment Career Connection schools like the Recording Connection, RadioConnection and the Film Connection with mentors work! And with today’s online social media marketing finally becoming rooted in society, the trend will soon become the norm.

Many schools and universities nationwide are in the process of ramping up their online offerings to alumni to include services such as resume and cover letter writing and editing, guidance for assembling potential employer lists, salary negotiation counseling, alumni yellow pages, re-entry seminars, self assessment workshops, support groups, online links to job resources, and even practice workshops for interviews. Blogs and social media networks are also becoming popular as a means of swapping job leads.

In fact, many universities and colleges are creating job-search programs. According to some statistics we researched online, nearly 20 percent of these institutions are now offering these services for alumni, up from just 5 percent five years ago, with business schools taking the lead.

The word “mentor” was seeded by one of the characters in Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. When Odysseus, King of Ithaca named Odysseus went to fight in the Trojan War, he entrusted the care of his son Telemachus and his kingdom to Mentor.

Today, the term mentor is defined by Webster’s dictionary as "a trusted counselor or guide" and schools like the Entertainment Career Connection are also in the process of setting up new social media networks for their students and graduates as well. Once such program is known to our students only, is the http://www.mediawarrior.com/ where students can hook up for resources, meet other mentors and students, and network.